Reference Librarian
Description and Responsibilities:
The Reference Librarian provides in-depth research and reference services to the faculty and students of the Law School as well as the University, the legal community, and the general public. The Reference Librarian will also support the three-quarter-long (one academic year) Legal Analysis, Research and Communication (“LARC”) program by providing whatever research assistance or library resources that the LARC faculty may request. More specifically, the Reference Librarian will teach LARC II, which is the research phase of the course. The teaching of LARC II involves assigning, supervising, and grading: (1) numerous exercises that are designed to familiarize the students with the Law Library's resources, effective research strategies, and proper forms of legal citation; and (2) a memorandum that the students research and write. Additionally, for LARC III, the Reference Librarian will be available to assist students in the research process as they research, write, and rewrite an appellate brief.
The selected applicant also will be responsible for Interlibrary Loan and some circulation desk activities. Some computer hardware and software troubleshooting in the PC Labs also will be required. The Reference Librarian will prepare research guides and will be on a rotating team responsible for library displays. The Reference Librarian will directly supervise one paraprofessional (circulation) and indirectly supervise ten to twelve student workers. The successful candidate also will perform other special duties as assigned by the Director of the Law Library who will be his/her direct supervisor.
Qualifications:
Candidates must hold J.D. and M.L.S. degrees from ABA and ALA-accredited institutions. Preferred: Member of a state bar. Two to three years of academic law library experience with supervisory responsibilities. Experience in the use of traditional and electronic information resources, including Innovative Interfaces, and experience with information retrieval via the World Wide Web. Prior experience in teaching Legal Research is considered a priority. Strong leadership, communication and managerial skills, an excellent knowledge of legal scholarship, and a significant understanding of information technology in law libraries are required. The chosen candidate will have a strong service orientation and will also have the ability to work independently as well as with others in a team atmosphere. The tenure-track faculty appointment requires an excellent record of teaching, scholarship, and service.
The University:
Baylor University was chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas and is Texas' oldest institution of higher education. With over 13,000 students, Baylor is the state's largest private university. Baylor University is located in Waco, Texas, a city in a metropolitan area of approximately 200,000 residents in central Texas, midway between Dallas and Austin. The 428-acre campus, located on the Brazos River, is home to Baylor Law School, as well as the College of Arts and Sciences; the Schools of Business, Education, Engineering and Computer Science, and Music; the Graduate School; and the Seminary. The Nursing School is located in Dallas in the Baylor Medical Center complex. Baylor attracts students from every state and has alumni from 138 foreign nations. The University has excellent libraries, computer facilities, laboratories, and student-support services. Baylor ranks first among seventy-three American doctoral degree-granting private universities in the total number of baccalaureate recipients who hav
e earned doctorates in the professional fields during the past decade. The number of National Merit Scholars enrolled at Baylor places the university in the top one percent among higher education institutions in America. Baylor competes in NCAA Division I Athletics and is a member of the Big 12 Conference.
The Law School:
At Baylor University, the teaching of law began in 1849. Baylor Law School was organized in 1857 and operated until 1883. It was re-established in 1920 and has operated continuously to the present, except for three years during World War II. The Law School was approved by the American Bar Association in 1931 and became a member of the Association of American Law Schools in 1938. It has approximately 5,500 living graduates.
In its 1999 ranking of the nation's 181 accredited law schools, U.S. News & World Report rated Baylor Law School in the “top tier” as one of the nation's 50 leading law schools.
The Law School is currently in the midst of a $35 million Building and Endowment Campaign. A new $30 million state-of-the-art law center will be built on the banks of the Brazos River on the perimeter of the campus, with completion scheduled for mid-2001. The planned three-story facility has a classic red brick and cut stone exterior, with a very large, finely-landscaped entry courtyard.
At every stage in the design of this effort, the most important goal has been to put teaching first. The new home for our program will have the highest level of functionality. It will include:
· classrooms that are unsurpassed as superior teaching facilities, including a variety of general classrooms, seminar rooms, and small conference rooms for one-on-one work.
§ an advocacy suite, including state-of-the-art courtrooms that will provide the optimum environment for advocacy training, our centerpiece of excellence.
§ a large, two-story-high appellate advocacy courtroom/classroom.
§ a library that will provide comfortable study and seating space in several impressive reading rooms overlooking the Brazos River.
§ technology in the classrooms, courtrooms, the library and throughout the school that is set in an infrastructure designed to accommodate continually-evolving technology applications.
§ faculty offices that will support the faculty mentoring that is the hallmark of our program – exam reviews, reviewing drafts of articles, and work on simulation exercises that are part of our areas of concentration.
§ study space and student organization space that will be far more generous; and a student common space (including light food service) with impressive river views.
The law center will have approximately 125,000 gross square feet (compared to the 60,000 in the current facility) and parking for up to 375 vehicles in a heavily landscaped parking area.
While the new law center will have twice the square footage of the current facility, we do not plan for any increase in our current enrollment of about 400. We are the smallest law school in Texas and one of the smallest in the nation. Our small size is very important to our success. As legal education continues to evolve, we believe that Baylor Law School will remain competitive by building upon our strengths and by continuing to carve out a niche in legal education. To accomplish our mission and educational goals, the Law School must remain at its current size.
The Law School academic schedule is organized on the quarter system. The traditional academic year is divided into three quarter terms of three months each. The summer session is another quarter term of the same length and character as the other three quarters. About 160 students are admitted each calendar year, in three classes. One class is admitted in each spring, summer, and fall quarter. This system allows for greater efficiency in using the summer term and greater flexibility in scheduling courses.
For those matriculated in the fall term of 1999, the median LSAT score was 160 (the top 17th percentile) and the median grade point average was 3.55. There were 917 applications for the class, into which 65 students were matriculated. The minority student enrollment in the Law School is 7.8%, and women comprise 40% of the enrollment. Entering credential levels for students (combined LSAT and UPGA) are in the top 15th to 20th percentile in the nation. Baylor law students come from 38 states and more than 132 colleges and universities. About 85 percent of the approximately 400 students come from undergraduate institutions other than Baylor University.
Among the nine accredited law schools in Texas, Baylor Law School also has an unparalleled record of success on the Texas bar exam. The demand by employers for Baylor Law School graduates continues to be very strong. During the Fall of 1999 over 143 law firms and other employers have been scheduled to interview at the Law School.
The Law School faculty consists of twenty-one full-time faculty members (including three professional librarian faculty members) and about twenty-five adjunct faculty members. In the fall term of 1999, faculty members had an average of fifteen years of teaching experience and over six years of practice experience. There are ten endowed faculty chairs and professorships. Faculty research, writing, and professional activities are supported and encouraged, but the primary emphasis is on quality teaching.
Baylor's academic program has been developed to achieve three objectives. First, the curriculum assists students in developing the analytical and communications skills necessary to practice law. Second, it exposes students to the fundamental legal doctrines and values necessary to function as competent and ethical professionals. Third, the curriculum requires all students to participate in intensive skills training in advocacy (including both trial and appellate advocacy), and gives students the opportunity for focused exposure to particular practice areas.
To accomplish its objectives as a professional program, during the first five quarters at the Law School, students participate in a highly required and fully-sequenced curriculum, including the LARC I, II, and III program. About 60% of the curriculum is required, giving students a broad course of study in the fundamentals of legal theory and doctrine. The third year includes the widely acclaimed and award-winning Practice Court program, an intensive two-quarter trial advocacy program with a focus on both theory and practice. The extensive required curriculum at Baylor is essential to our central educational mission of providing students with the knowledge, skills and values necessary to become competent beginning attorneys.
After developing a firm foundation in legal theory and doctrine, students who are interested in pursuing focused study in a particular area may then do so. Six focal areas of study are available - General Civil Litigation, Business Litigation, Criminal Practice, Business Planning, Estate Planning and Administrative Law. The six areas of concentration each culminate in a capstone experience which provides students with the opportunity to apply, through skills exercises under the personal supervision of faculty experienced in the area, what has been learned in the students' substantive courses. There are also three joint degree programs: the JD/MBA, the JD/MTax, offered in cooperation with the Hankamer School of Business; and the JD/MPPA, offered in cooperation with the Department of Political Science of the College of Arts and Sciences.
Baylor Law School operates on its own financial resources under a budget of approximately $7.6 million for fiscal year '98-'99. All Law School tuition, after payment of a university overhead charge, is used and retained for Law School operational expenses. The Law School has its own endowment of over thirty million dollars, the income from which is applied solely to the Law School program. All designated gifts are used for Law School purposes. Tuition for 1999-00 is $324.00 per quarter hour ($13,608 per academic year, based upon an average 42 quarter hours per academic year). This tuition is among the most affordable for private law schools in the nation. The course of study consists of 126 quarter hours. A student will generally take about 14 hours in each of the nine quarters (the equivalent of three academic years) required to earn the juris doctor degree.
The Law School offers its own extensive scholarship program through the generous support of loyal alumni and friends. For the fall 1999 quarter, approximately 145 of the 396 students enrolled received direct scholarship assistance from the Law School Scholarship Program. Federal and state student financial aid in 1998-99 totaled about $9,263,683. This amount included $1,163,100 in grants and scholarships and $8,100,583 in loans.
The Law School is self-contained. The current facility has about 60,000 square feet of space and is located in the center of the Baylor campus. Morrison Constitution Hall was completed in 1955, and its Leon Jaworski Wing was added in 1975. In 1984 the Advocacy Wing was completed, and the older buildings were renovated under a grant from the M. D. Anderson Foundation of Houston. These facilities are devoted to classrooms, courtrooms, the library, faculty offices, administrative offices, a career services office, student offices, and lounges. There is an adjacent parking lot with reserved parking for faculty and staff.
The Law Library:
The library is staffed by the Director and two other professional librarians, as well as with a paraprofessional staff. The Caston Law Library contains about 173,000 volumes and equivalents and is designed for quiet and effective study. Within the Law Library, the Sam and Helen Pessarra Computer Lab and the M.D. Anderson/Watson Wise Foundation Computer Lab provide access to Lexis and Westlaw and other legal databases via personal computers and dedicated terminals. The university library and other specialized collections are located only a short distance from the Law School.
As noted, a new $30 million state-of-the-art law center soon will be built on the banks of the Brazos River on the perimeter of the campus, with completion scheduled for mid-2001. The library in the planned Sheila and Walter Umphrey Law Center, the new home of Baylor Law School, will provide comfortable study and seating space in several impressive reading rooms overlooking the Brazos River.
Terms of Employment:
This is a twelve-month (renewable) tenure-track position with law school faculty rank. The salary for the position will be competitive and commensurate with qualifications and professional experience (Minimum: $40,000 on a calendar year basis).
Faculty salaries at the Law School compare favorably to those in law schools generally. The salary for the summer quarter (ten and one-half weeks including examinations) is an additional 25% of that for the regular three quarter academic year. Faculty benefits include retirement fund payments beginning at age thirty; medical, dental, life, and long term disability insurance benefits; employee and dependents' tuition remission; continuing legal education expense reimbursement; ABA, Texas and Waco-McLennan County bar association dues, below market price athletic season tickets; and dining and recreational facilities on campus.
Each faculty member receives a summer leave with full pay every third year for professional development. Therefore, in the summer following the third year of teaching, and in each third summer thereafter, the faculty member will receive a summer session's pay but have no regular faculty duties at the Law School. However, the Dean, Associate Dean, and professional library faculty members continue to discharge all of their administrative duties during any sabbatical quarter.
To apply, please include in a credentials package the following items: (1) A formal letter of application which specifically addresses how you meet each of the listed qualifications; (2) a curriculum vita; and (3) the names, addresses, and phone numbers of at least three references.
Applicants must submit their credentials package to:
Professor Brandon Quarles
Director of the Law Library
P.O. Box 97128
1400 South 5th Street
Waco, TX 76798-7128
Phone: (254) 710-4913
Fax: (254) 710-2294
Brandon_Quarles@baylor.edu
This position is available immediately. Applications will be received from the current date, and thereafter until the position is filled. To ensure careful consideration, preferably your application should be received and complete by March 1, 2000. Employment will commence at a time mutually agreed upon by the Law School and the selected candidate.
Baylor University is a Baptist university affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas. As an Affirmative Action Equal Employment Opportunity employer, Baylor encourages minorities, women and persons with disabilities to apply.
University website: www.baylor.edu
Law School website: http://law.baylor.edu/
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